Gaming system with moveable display

ABSTRACT

If one has at his disposition a robust display which can be thrown around, a whole new range of computer games can be designed. The electronic gaming system comprises: a robust, moveable display ( 101 ); a game controller ( 103 ), arranged to generate a game scenario, comprising generation of pictures to be displayed on the robust moveable display ( 101 ); and a trajectory mapping unit ( 105 ), arranged to map a virtual trajectory in space-time of a virtual world in the game scenario, with at least two of the pictures with unequal picture content corresponding to different locations of the virtual space-time trajectory, to a real trajectory of the robust moveable display ( 101 ) in real space, so that at an appropriate moment the two of the pictures are displayed on the robust moveable display ( 101 ).

The invention relates to a robust display enabling coordinated dynamicinteraction in an environment in contrast to existing static (merelyresponsive) displays, allowing games to be played with it, and a gamingsystem which allows the tracking of the dynamic motion of the displaythrough and environment such as a living room, and coordinating thiswith a game scenario, involving the display of events. The inventionalso relates to gaming methods of using such a display, and a protocolsignal for transmitting data required for the interaction between theused display and the game system, and software enabling this.

Displays are intended to be able to statically show incoming pictures,and it is believed that in the future a couple of display formats willdominate (although with variations), leaving aside in this text the manyindicating displays like on a washing machine.

For the electronic paper-type applications, a foldable and detachable(so that one can put a page part on a table, give it to a friend, stickit to a wall, . . . ) multi-leaved booklet of about the currentpocket-fitting book size (a little like current plastic baby books) maybecome one of the most popular formats.

Also, a display of wrist-strapable size will become interesting fordisplaying small amounts of data, such as short notes and reminders,information from nearby shops, or feedback of health information.

Finally, beamers could be interesting for projection of general shapeand size images. E.g. one could attach to the ceiling a base plate ofVelcro, to which one could attach in a desirable configuration a numberof downwards unreelable projection screen slices. So one could form apanorama around one's exercise bike, or in an office a variable screenin between the furniture, so that both the speaker and visiting guestscould optimally see a presentation. The projector can then adjust thevideo data, e.g. if there are more panes to the side, it can take anobject out of the video data and excessively shift it towards one ofthese side panes.

At the moment the majority of the prior art displays is according to oneof the formats which could be described as a “picture-frame-type”(rather static, 4:3 or 16:9) [or sometimes even “big box”, which madethe CRT unpopular] display, such as an LCD, PDP (plasma panel display),projection TV, and the like.

Also, in small amounts, for special applications, special displays canbe designed, such as for commercial advertisement, or for gluing onto adrinking glass. Technologies for achieving this may e.g. be flexibledisplays comprising LCD material (WO2004107028) or OLED.

The gaming industry is a quickly growing industry, with people spendingleisure time increasingly on games, an increasing amount of this timebeing spent on computer games (requiring currently a think-over andfight-back from the classical game industry, producing such games likemonopoly), and games are also moving to the portable domain, such as formobile phones.

The disadvantage of gaming when the game software must interact with theuser by means of display on such “picture-frame-type” displays, is thatusers may become unhealthy couch-potatoes. E.g., the game of “doom” is(supposed to be and hence described as) an action game, with a characterrunning around and shooting monsters. But actually all the action theuser gets is straining his fingers on the keyboard. Also, he has tostare for hours in a fixed position towards the screen.

It is an object of the invention to provide a more versatile gamingtechnology, not along the lines of the present systems.

This object is realized by an electronic gaming system comprising:

-   -   a robust, moveable display (101);    -   a game controller (103), arranged to generate a game scenario,        comprising generation of pictures to be displayed on the robust        moveable display (101); and    -   a trajectory mapping unit (105), arranged to map a virtual        trajectory in space-time of a virtual world in the game        scenario, with at least two of the pictures with unequal picture        content corresponding to different locations of the virtual        space-time trajectory, to a real trajectory of the robust        moveable display (101) in real space, so that at an appropriate        moment the two of the pictures are displayed on the robust        moveable display (101).

Having an easily moveable, robust display, allows the players to reallyphysically play with it, and hence also exercise their muscles togetherwith their brains. The present invention description describes what kindof system technology is then required for gaming with such a display,and which types of novel games can be played (merely from a technicalperspective, the exact gaming scenarios are of course for gamedevelopers to create).

Presently available displays are not really suited for the purpose. Notonly are they typically heavy, pointy, and difficult to handle, but mostdisplays do not handle dropping even once very well (e.g. dropping a CRTfrom not so high may introduce a shift in the shadow mask, effectivelydestroying the display). With moveable is intended easily moveable,which will typically in many games involve throwing, whereby the displayfollows a parabolic path through space. With robust is meant that thedisplay is manufactured so that it can endure without fault (or at leastover 99% of the displays) a large number of typical gaming actions(dependent on the game or games which can be played with the packetsold: if the gamers have sticks supplied with the game, both thesticks—which will typically be somewhat soft in case children startbeating each other—and the display will be so manufactured that they cansurvive the interactions). E.g. a ball as in FIG. 2 will be thrown manytimes during game playing, hence the manufacturer will test it so thatit should e.g. be able to fall onto the ground from a height of 3 metersfor a predetermined N=10 000 times without being damaged, i.e.impairment any of its incorporated functions. A display may also berealized more robust than required for typical game actions, sinceespecially children may use their toys for anything.

This implies for the technology a number of technical adjustments.Typically the display will have a relatively durable outer shell, whichcan take the impacts of collisions, and buffers the deformation so thatthe internal parts are protected. It should also not wear or tearsignificantly, etc., so that it retains its fresh appearance. Theinternal parts need to be securely fixed to the shell (e.g. by gluing,or otherwise fastening), so that they do not come loose. Therefore, theywill typically as far as possible be incorporated in the interior of thedisplay, but exterior components—such as e.g. a light sensor or camerafor sensing the environment—will typically be embedded a little in theshell, i.e. the shell comprises a shallow pit, in which the component isshielded from most interactions with the environment, since the displaybumps into surrounding objects with the slightly higher surroundings ofthe pit.

Thirdly, the picture display unit itself needs to be robust also, i.e. adisplay unit for very shocky environments need to be selected, i.e. theycan be specifically made more robust by i.a. incorporating them in atransparent protection layer, making sure all soldering is extra secure,etc.

Furthermore, it may be desirable that the display is elastic, so that itbounces away again in collisions, or the display may be soft (such asthe cushion of FIG. 3), so that there is less danger if it collides withplayers or furniture.

Having such a moveable display means that it can participate in a gameas a kind of extra actor/character, in addition to the human players. Agame controller (which may e.g. reside in a home computer and be therules of a bought game software program running on the computer'sprocessor) generates the different actions to happen for each timemoment of a playing game scenario. E.g. the character must display somebehavior. In FIG. 1 the character is a dragon, which because of whathappened previously in the game is angry. This will be shown with “angrydragon” pictures on the moveable display selected from a memory storingall dragon pictures (or generated real-time from computer graphicsrules). When the trajectory mapping unit 105 realizes that the girl 198has thrown the dragon into the air, it will coordinate the showing onthe display of consecutive pictures showing the dragon flapping itswings for consecutive positions on its parabolic trajectory. When itcomes near to the boy 199, the display will show pictures of the dragoncharacter breathing fire (a further actuator producing smoke could inthis particular game also be incorporated into the display for enhancedeffect, if cost and security considerations favor this), indicating thatthe boy has to perform some action (shoot it, hit it with a bat) orloose points. Of course typically a loudspeaker will be included, sothat what is realizable for video will also be realizable for audio (thedragon will roar when approaching the boy).

Hence, the trajectory mapping unit keeps track of the motion of themoveable display in real space-time, typically by analyzing informationfrom all kinds of sensors, such as e.g. a clock, an accelerometer, acamera, etc. A simple accelerometer can already give a rough indicationof vertical motion: it will sense the start of the motion being thethrow, sense the deceleration near the maximal height, and roughlypredict when it will hit the floor by means of a clock and the up goingpath measurements. Trajectory representations (both of the virtual andreal trajectory; and more complicated trajectories can be simplified tomatch with the simpler one of the real and virtual one) can be verysimple, such as e.g. [“ascending path”, “high flight”, “descending path]or [“free flight”, “nearing player”]. More advanced trajectory mappingunits (which e.g. keep detailed centimeter accurate parametricrepresentations of the different paths followed over e.g. the previoushour) will be coupled to sensors which measure more accurate positioninformation (and hence possibly the relative position to players) of thedisplay, such as camera(s), or an ultrasound measurement system (basedon time-of-flight analysis or spectral analysis such as in WO2004/095056).

Finally, typical game software for this system will incorporate behaviorrules depending on the motion of the display, and to make a moreinteresting game, also depending on the motion and actions of theplayers. Thereto players may wear co-supplied tracking devices, or atleast one camera 105 may analyze their moves.

Since the display is now typically moving through a player's room, thesoftware may be arranged to before playing input the room configuration,which the trajectory mapping unit can take into account when determiningwhich precise path through the room is followed, feed backing this viathe protocol signal PROT to the game controller, which may then transmitthe appropriate pictures in forward signal IMG (which may comprisefurther information such as rules of a short part of the game scenario,describing e.g. how the displayed character on the moveable displayshould behave, i.a. depending on interaction with the user, the furtherinformation depending on the amount of gaming capability realized insidethe moveable game display) depending on where in the room the displayflies.

E.g. in a particular game two groups of people may throw the displaytowards each other across a row of blocking players, who should not gethold of the display. But to make the game more interesting, there areregions of the room where the display should not pass through or fall onthe ground. E.g. the east-side corner of the room may be pre-marked as a“no-go” zones, costing points (or making the dragon more angry). One canalso specify objects that should not be collided with (e.g. the displayshould not touch the couch in any way).

These and other aspects of the method and apparatus according to theinvention will be apparent from and elucidated with reference to theimplementations and embodiments described hereinafter, and withreference to the accompanying drawings, which serve merely asnon-limiting specific illustrations exemplifying the more generalconcept, and in which dashes are used to indicate that a component isoptional, non-dashed components not necessarily being essential. Dashescan also be used for indicating that elements, which are explained to beessential, are hidden in the interior of an object, or for intangiblethings such as e.g. electromagnetic fields.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 schematically illustrates an embodiment of the gaming system setup in a living room;

FIG. 2 schematically illustrates a ball-shaped robust moveable displayspecifically designed for playing at least one particular interactivegame with the gaming system; and

FIG. 3 schematically illustrates a cushion-shaped robust moveabledisplay specifically designed for playing the same particularinteractive game or other games with the gaming system.

FIG. 1 shows the gaming system when playing in a room (of course somegames could also be played outside, in particular if the robust moveabledisplay 101 is a stand-alone computing device, also comprising the gamecontroller 103, and means to download—wired or wireless—a particulargame into comprised memory). The girl 198 throws the display, whichshows a dragon character 102 (an exemplary embodiment of such a cushiondisplay is described below with FIG. 3). Along the up going path, thedragon ignores the presence of the players, and flies on unaware,however along the fall the dragon turns his head angrily towards the boy(with a more expensive display, with a picture display unit 104 oneither side of the cushion, the girl need not throw the cushion theright way; since for a simple display of icons, 32×32 LEDs will sufficefor many games, typically the displays will be so configured that theycan display on either side, e.g. the same picture, or display at least acorrect, facing side of a character on a picture display unit 104 mostlydirected towards the players towards whom the display is moving; for aball six orthogonal picture display units 104 will be a good choice),which is already convincing with a mere rendering of a head turn,particularly at flying speed. The boy 199 has to shoot the dragon with atoy gun 180 (e.g. infrared, or if already an ultrasound positionestimating means is incorporated in the display, it may be re-used forthe shooting, in which case the gun will typically emit a specialrecognizable signal, e.g. a particular temporal sequence of pulses),anywhere, or perhaps on a particular one of a network of sensors on thedisplay, such as the sensor right between the eyes.

A trajectory mapping unit 105 (which is advantageously situated insidethe moveable display, but in case of e.g. camera-based real trajectoryanalysis may also reside e.g. in the PC) monitors the trajectory throughspace-time of the ball (e.g. in a simple scenario: is it still flying orhas it dropped to the floor; possibly supplemented with whatadditionally happened to the display, e.g. if it was shot at,conceptually the real trajectory of a flying dragon character may changeinto a falling dead dragon, even if it is physically still movingupward; this will typically be marked and e.g. feed backed to the gamecontroller via the protocol signal as falling trajectory sub segment,and e.g. a less detailed measurement of the path need be done if only astatic dead dragon is shown on the remainder of the path), in particulartypically its current position and the history of previous positions(e.g. it was thrown to the left, then lay on the floor for ten seconds,and now was thrown again and is still falling).

The part of the behavior rules of the dragon character which is mostrelevant for this invention is the way it moves, i.e. which imagesshould be display depending on its position in virtual/real space-time,and dependent on such further internal character status parameters, suchas e.g. how many times it was shot at before already. Thedisplay/character game data will be e.g. information on the motion alongthe trajectory, or that it has taken a shot, or how tired it becomes,more frightened when moving towards a certain part of the room, etc.,which can also help in the further selection of received pictures or therequest of particular pictures to the game controller.

The trajectory mapping unit 105 may be coupled wirelessly (typical radiofrequency wireless communication technologies are integratable by theskilled person) to a well-placed camera 150 (e.g. a typical PC camera),e.g. on top of a high cupboard in the corner of the room, or a360-surround lens camera placed on a centrally placed table. From such agood vantage point the camera can best see most actions, although evenbetter for occlusion reasons is several strategically placed cameras.

Image processing software typically uses motion analysis (e.g. refinedblock-based motion estimation, by matching the block vectors withunderlying object color statistics) as a first stage to segment themoving objects (players and moving display) from the static background.Shape analysis can then be used to identify the moving objects. Atpresent, person analysis techniques are sufficiently developed for thepurposes of playing games with the present system. Person objects can bedetected, preferably even with face detection the exact player can beidentified (and tracked when moving through space also when his face isnot so well visible, e.g. Kalman-type filters can be designed for this).Also their actions can be analyzed, by first identifying theircylinder-shaped extremities, and then using artificial intelligencemotion rules to classify which likely action occurred (e.g. an armreaching, slapping if the motion is differently oriented and faster,boxing, etc.). The display can typically be identified by matching itsextracted shape with stored information, typically discounting from thematch the part where the varying pictures are shown. E.g. a circularobject will be the ball. Coloring the display shell, e.g. the ball isstill translucent, but slightly purplish, or having the picture displayunits at regular times display a particular flashing pattern may aid therecognition.

The game controller 103 (which ideally resides in the user's generic PC,so that easily new games can be downloaded, but for simple games mayalso reside in the moveable display) will typically do most of the gameprocessing, e.g. keeping the score, behavior status of characters(although there may be memory for keeping the behavior-related statusinformation of the characters in the separate supplied moveable displays101 themselves), etc. The game controller 103 will typically be themaster of which pictures should be transmitted, dependent on the currentstate of the game scenario, and the information of the motion of thedisplay 101 received from the trajectory mapping unit 105, via theprotocol signal PROT if it resides in the display.

This protocol signal may be embodied e.g. as a list of object positions(e.g. x, y, z) for the moveable display (preferably also supplementedwith one up to 3 orientation angle values), comprising typically alsothe times at which they occur (or are estimated to occur with the lawsof gravitational motion and preferably configuration information of theroom). A very simple protocol signal contains only e.g. a time alreadyin flight and an estimated time to land (simplifying the trajectorygreatly into just an interval of free motion). At least the currentposition should preferably be transmitted, in which case the gamecontroller can use the stored previous position for inferring what ishappening to the device, or at least a mere indication that the displayis still moving (from the accelerometer, or camera, or ultrasoundsystem, . . . ). Typically the protocol will also contain classes forspecifying information about which type of interactions occurred, e.g.that the display was touched or picked up, and when desired for thegame, further specifying information like on which side it was pickedup, how fast/rough, by whom, etc. The actions of players will often bydetected and transmitted directly to the game controller (e.g.information from the camera, the images itself or already pre-processedinformation being transmitted), but this may also go via the trajectorymapping unit 105, in which case the protocol will also contain classesfor conveying this information (i.e. player positions, absolute in theroom, or relative positions or distances of players to the display,which can be as simple as an indicator “player nearby”; player behaviorsuch as movements, speech, . . . , typically classified into a number ofclasses required for the particular game [e.g. the player is “angry” atthe display, “kills” the displayed character, etc.; typically theprotocol signal standard will contain a number of agreed classes for allcurrently supported games).

In the case virtual trajectory information, and possibly already therequired pictures are pre-transmitted to the moveable display, thetrajectory mapping unit 105 may take care of theidentification/coordination (with a predetermined mapping between thevirtual and real trajectory, e.g. the virtual trajectory may be astandard size parabola, or even a line segment, the points of which aremapped to the real parabola points), and no protocol signal feedback isin principle required. In an intermediate version, the trajectorymapping unit 105 may identify subsegments of the real (and virtual)trajectory and identify only order codes for the subsegments, in whichcase the game controller may transmit the appropriate pictures for theparticular sub segment, should there be many pictures, also dependent onscenario information that may not be known to the display (e.g. theextremum of the parabola may have allocated order code=5). Thetrajectory mapping unit 105 will further typically comprise (apart fromthe software calculating a representation of the real trajectory andmatching it with the virtual trajectory) memory for storing such arepresentation, and control algorithms, which can closely cooperate witha receiver and the picture display units 104 in the moveable display(i.e. typically some of the received pictures can be temporally storedin memory and transferred to the picture display units 104 at the rightmoment; there typically be a coupling to a clock 206 in the moveabledisplay).

Typically before playing a game, the moveable display will announce itscapabilities to the game controller via the protocol signal PROT. E.g.if its trajectory mapping unit has no access to sensors allowing precisetrajectory identification, this is conveyed so that the game controllerchanges the scenario (or at least the forward signals IMG derived fromthe scenario) into a simpler one, which e.g. instead of a complex dragonrendering, changes this in a command to alternate two pictures (“wingsup” “wings down”) for a certain amount of time, which corresponds to alikely fly time.

FIG. 2 shows an exemplary embodiment 201 of a relatively simple robustmoveable display, which can be used in the present systems for somegames. A typical game playable with this display is the following.Player 198 throws the ball roughly in the direction of player 199. Theball shows a friendly picture, such as a piece of fruit, and player 199has to catch this fruit to score points. If the trajectory mapping unitidentifies the catch event, it will transmit this to the gamecontroller, which may add a fixed amount of points to player 199'saccount, or a variable amount depending on further transmittedinformation of the catch event, such as whether the ball was barelytouched with the fingertips or really firmly caught (of course, apartfrom determining this with the sensors in the ball-shaped moveabledisplay, player behavior information—such as how far he had to jump—mayalso be transmitted, e.g. on the basis of camera analysis). To make thegame more interesting, at certain times, e.g. determined purely on thebasis of the clock 206 time, the picture will become a bad picture (e.g.an angry face, or a bomb) in which case player 199 should stay clear ofthe display to avoid malus points. To make things even more interesting,this change of status may occur only if a player is near (e.g. based ona camera analysis of the closeness of player and display, or on howclumsy a user is reaching for the display etc.). A goodconstruction—although the skilled person will realize that alternativesfor the components are possible—is the following.

The outer shell of the display is preferably made of an elastic, largelytranslucent polymer material, such as e.g. a silicone rubber (chemicalcompanies provide the most appropriate one dependent on processability,desired elasticity, and translucency for the desired thickness). Ofcourse other plastics or other materials can be used, e.g. fornon-elastic balls. Two halves of the ball are molded, with the desiredspared-out pits in place, e.g. for a connection to a chargeable battery213. The display and computing related components are typicallyconnected together before mounting in the ball half. Picture displayunit is e.g. a bendeable display, such as LCD displays, polymer LEDdisplay, foil display, electronic ink display, multiLED on flexibledisplay (of course non-bended displays can also be used—as long as theirlight need not pass through too much translucent material, but althoughfor very robust displays one may fill them solid, typically there willde some air between the mounted picture display unit and the flexibleshell,—and a configuration of LEDs may be used mounted on a curvedsupport, etc.), which is attached following the curvature of the ballhalf shell (which is e.g. 1 to 2 cm thick), e.g. by gluing (the driveelectronics etc. are not explicitly shown). Additional fixing with e.g.screws may also be used for increased robustness. Having the internalcomponents in place, the second half shell of the ball is connected e.g.by gluing or thermal fixing, etc. Lastly, typically so (partially)exterior components can be attached if desired (e.g. slided intoprefixed holders before fixing the tow half balls, and then fixation).

An accelerometer 207 is comprised in the exemplary embodiment, differentversions existing per se, so that e.g. acceleration in three dimensionscan be recorded (e.g. with a piezo-type accelerometer). It is connectedand supplies this information to the trajectory mapping unit 105.

A processing unit 223 typically may have such functionality as acommunication unit to receive and transmit data from and to an antenna221, typically with radio frequencies (e.g. around 500 kHz or some MHz,or even GHz). This is an example of a coupling to the game controller103 in the PC. Two-way communication allows the game and display to beconstantly in touch (typically display-player interaction iscommunicated to the game, which can then update its scenario, and sendnewly adapted pictures, but of course more complex interaction isachievable, e.g. with different subparts of the game scenario in the PCand display needing more accurate synchronization, in particular ifthere are several displays, which act e.g. as different soldiers in awar game; in this case the displays may communicate actions towards eachother, such as e.g. proximity changing the displayed soldiers intofighting soldiers).

A simple user interaction technology is comprised in the display 201,namely a number of charged capacitors distributed around the sphere(example of a vicinity monitoring unit 211 for measuring the disturbanceof a surrounding electromagnetic field, in this case an electric field299), which are connected to sensors sensing the disturbance in thefield when the ball display comes near an object such as a player. Thefields can be more intelligently tuned, so that more information can bemeasured, such as related to the distance of the nearing object (alsothe rate of change of the fields can be analyzed). Such electrodes canalso be used as an exemplary pick-up or contact sensor: no currentflows, except when a relatively good conducting sweaty player touchestwo oppositely charged electrodes. Configurations may be dynamicallyswitched for increased sensing capability.

The display may also be attached via a pit-embedded ring with aco-supplied elastic cord, so that the players can swing the displaytowards each other, and these accelerations are modeled by theaccelerometer.

FIG. 3 shows another example of a possible pillow-shaped robust moveabledisplay 301 useful for our present gaming system and methods.

It is an augmented (with sensor and gaming system electronics) versionof the pillow displays which Philips introduced e.g. at CEBIT 2005 fair.

It contains basically a two-dimensional array of LEDs 304 inside apillow, which transmits enough of the light in its original form, sothat the picture is visible from the outside.

It illustrates a number of possible more advanced sensors for monitoringthe display trajectory and/or interacting with the players (note thatthe components are described functionally, and the skilled person willunderstand when he can re-use components such as an antenna; e.g. ifultrasound positioning is used, this system can also be used tocommunicate with the tags of the players, the game controller etc., andthen no RF communication system is required, saving costs).

A typical game which can be played with this embodiment is thefollowing: player 198 throws the pillow in the air, and the flyingdragon is displayed. Player 199 has to kill it by shooting it, whichevent is detected and recognized by the trajectory mapping unit, whichcoordinates from then on the showing of a dead falling down dragon.

E.g., an infrared or other optical gun can be used, which beam is sensedby one or several strategically placed—typically IR—photosensors 320,321 (e.g. so that good capturing is guaranteed for lesser shooters).Additionally or alternatively another sensor, namely a humidity sensor323 may be present, which detects the water sprayed from a water gun. Itmay be embodied e.g. as a water-absorbing layer in between electrodeswhich sense the resistance change. The ultrasound system can also beused for use with co-supplied ultrasound guns. In this case beam formertechniques with several microphones can be used to make the system moreor less precise to accurate shooting.

Two examples of possible display position estimation means are shown,which can also double as player position determination means, inparticular also the proximity of players (which is relative and lessprecise than the absolute player position); examples of camera-basedderivation were described above already.

A radio frequency communication unit 360 can communicate with fixedbeacons (e.g. placed in the corners of the room) and arm-straps (orother attached tags, e.g. in-pocket) on players, via antenna 361. Thedisplay can triangulate its position e.g. via time-of-flightcalculations, which signal analysis and creation unit 362 is arranged toperform. It can also calculate the time-of-flight to the transceiver ofthe player strap, or receive its triangulation information relative tothe beacons. Typically before time-of-flight signal transmission clocksynchronization will be done. Typically an ID of the player will also becommunicated, and perhaps also further information. This is interestingwhen the user does not communicate via a simple tag, but a smallcomputing device (e.g. on the mobile phone or a dedicated gamingconsole), on which under the control of supplied user-interface softwarethe user may input further scenario-relevant character behavior data,e.g. that currently he feels angry.

Another example of a system by which display position can be measured,communicated, etc., is the ultrasound system comprising an ultrasoundsignal generation and analysis unit 351, and one or several microphones353, and one or several loudspeakers 354, 355 (so that a beam formingpattern can be formed by the ultrasound signal generation and analysisunit 351). This system may also use time-of-flight analysis, or thetemplate based positioning of WO 2004/095056.

Already described above are examples of sensors and informationprocessing regarding positions and movements of gaming objects: spatialposition estimation means for the display (e.g. based on ultrasoundtriangulation with at least four out of plane beacons), player positiondetermination means (e.g. by camera 105), and a special kind of relativeplayer position determining means, namely proximity detection means(e.g. the electric field disturbance analysis unit 211, or sensors thatdetect actual handling of the display, e.g. the accelerometer detectingnon-parabolic accelerations, or e.g. signal time-of-flight measurementbetween the display and a transceiver carried by the user, e.g. on thetip of a stick he uses to touch the display).

It is further interesting to have a system which has at least a crudeawareness of actions and/or behavior (which could comprise also state ofmind indications) of a player, an exemplary embodiment of a playerbehavior determination unit being incorporated in the trajectory mappingunit 105 in FIG. 3 (in general there may of course be several suchplayer behavior determination unit in different devices—e.g. thePC—coupled in a communication network). This player behaviordetermination unit gets the input e.g. from the humidity sensor, andknows then that a player has accurately shot at the display. With thelight sensors, detection of a particularly temporally modulatedillumination pattern or particular frequency, etc., can further conveywhich of the users actually shot.

Other player actions may e.g. be temporarily enclosing the display in abox—detectable by the photosensors—in a hide and seek game, or a playerjumping up or perform so motion towards the display with one of hisextremities or a carried object, or throw something towards the display,e.g. detectable by the camera (more advanced displays may have their owncamera(s) on board—not shown—e.g. cheap CMOS cameras sensing around onall sides).

The algorithmic components disclosed in this text may in practice be(entirely or in part) realized as hardware (e.g. parts of an applicationspecific IC) or as software running on a special digital signalprocessor, or a generic processor, etc.

It should be understandable to the skilled person from our presentationwhich components can be optional improvements and be realized incombination with other components, and how (optional) steps of methodscorrespond to respective means of apparatuses, and vice versa. Apparatusin this application is used in the broadest sense presented in thedictionary, namely a group of means allowing the realization of aparticular objective, and can hence e.g. be (a small part of) an IC, ora dedicated appliance, or part of a networked system, etc.

The computer program product denotation should be understood asencompassing any physical realization of a collection of commandsenabling a processor—generic or special purpose,—after a series ofloading steps (which may include intermediate conversion steps, liketranslation to an intermediate language, and a final processor language)to get the commands into the processor, to execute any of thecharacteristic functions of an invention. In particular, the computerprogram product may be realized as data on a carrier such as e.g. a diskor tape, data present in a memory, data traveling over a networkconnection—wired or wireless,—or program code on paper. Apart fromprogram code, characteristic data required for the program may also beembodied as a computer program product.

Some of the steps required for the working of the method may be alreadypresent in the functionality of the processor instead of described inthe computer program product, such as data input and output steps.

It should be noted that the above-mentioned embodiments illustraterather than limit the invention. Where the skilled person can easilyrealize a mapping of the presented examples to other regions of theclaims, we have for conciseness not in-depth mentioned all theseoptions. Apart from combinations of elements of the invention ascombined in the claims, other combinations of the elements are possible.Any combination of elements can be realized in a single dedicatedelement.

Any reference sign between parentheses in the claim is not intended forlimiting the claim. The word “comprising” does not exclude the presenceof elements or aspects not listed in a claim. The word “a” or “an”preceding an element does not exclude the presence of a plurality ofsuch elements.

1. An electronic gaming system comprising: a robust, moveable display(101); a game controller (103), arranged to generate a game scenario,comprising generation of pictures to be displayed on the robust moveabledisplay (101); and a trajectory mapping unit (105), arranged to map avirtual trajectory in space-time of a virtual world in the gamescenario, with at least two of the pictures with unequal picture contentcorresponding to different locations of the virtual space-timetrajectory, to a real trajectory of the robust moveable display (101) inreal space, so that at an appropriate moment the two of the pictures aredisplayed on the robust moveable display (101).
 2. An electronic gamingsystem as claimed in claim 1, in which the game controller (103) isarranged to generate a game scenario in which a game character (102)acts according to behavior rules, in dependence on its position alongthe virtual trajectory, and in which the trajectory mapping unit (105)is arranged to store data of the robust moveable display (101) on itsreal trajectory, allowing simulating that the display is a realcharacter participating in the game.
 3. An electronic gaming system asclaimed in claim 1, in which the trajectory mapping unit (105) iscoupled to spatial position estimation means (207; 150), arranged to beable to at least analyze a vertical motion through real space.
 4. Anelectronic gaming system as claimed in claim 3, in which the spatialposition estimation means (207) comprise an accelerometer.
 5. Anelectronic gaming system as claimed in claim 3, in which the spatialposition estimation means (207) comprise an ultrasound emitter (354) anddetector (353).
 6. An electronic gaming system as claimed in claim 1, inwhich the trajectory mapping unit (105) is coupled to player positiondetermination means (360, 361; 150).
 7. An electronic gaming system asclaimed in claim 6, comprising proximity detection means to determine aproximity of a player.
 8. An electronic gaming system as claimed inclaim 7, in which the proximity detection means comprise a unit (362)capable of evaluating a signal time-of-flight.
 9. An electronic gamingsystem as claimed in claim 7, in which the proximity detection meanscomprise a vicinity monitoring unit (211) for measuring the disturbanceof a surrounding electromagnetic field.
 10. An electronic gaming systemas claimed in claim 1 comprising a player action detection unit (340),arranged to detect at least one particular action of at least one of anumber of possible players.
 11. An electronic gaming system as claimedin claim 3, in which the spatial position estimation means and/or theplayer position determination means and/or the player action detectionunit get as input a picture from at least one camera (105).
 12. Anelectronic gaming system as claimed in claim 10, characterized in thatthe player action detection unit (340) is coupled to at least one lightsensor (320, 321) attached to the robust moveable display (101).
 13. Arobust moveable display (101) usable for electronic gaming, comprising:a coupling to a game controller (103), arranged to generate a gamescenario, comprising generation of pictures to be displayed on therobust moveable display (101); and a trajectory mapping unit (105),arranged to map a virtual trajectory in space-time of a virtual world inthe game scenario, with at least two of the pictures with unequalpicture content corresponding to different locations of the virtualspace-time trajectory, to a real trajectory of the robust moveabledisplay (101) in real space, so that at an appropriate moment the two ofthe pictures are displayed on the robust moveable display (101).
 14. Arobust moveable display (101) as claimed in claim 13, characterized inthat it is formed as a soft pillow or an elastic ball.
 15. A method ofgaming comprising: moving a robust, moveable display (101) throughspace; generating events of a game scenario by a game controller (103),comprising generating pictures to be displayed on the robust moveabledisplay (101); and coordinating by a trajectory mapping unit (105) whenthe pictures are to be displayed on the robust moveable display (101),the trajectory mapping unit (105) being arranged to map a virtualtrajectory in space-time of a virtual world in the game scenario, withat least two of the pictures with unequal picture content correspondingto different locations of the virtual space-time trajectory, to a realtrajectory of the robust moveable display (101) in real space, so thatat an appropriate moment the two of the pictures are displayed on therobust moveable display (101).
 16. A protocol signal (PROT) to betransmitted by a trajectory mapping unit (105) as claimed in claim 1 toa game controller (103) as claimed in claim 1, to indicate at leastinformation regarding a position of a robust moveable display (101) on areal space trajectory.
 17. A computer program product comprising codeenabling a processor to perform the trajectory mapping unit coordinationas claimed in claim 15.